European physicians embody cross-border engagement

This year’s Social Oncology Project report focused exclusively on US oncologists so that we could overlay all of the rich data that was available to explore possible correlations in online and offline behavior. However, we certainly do not want to ignore the global physicians who are so important to diagnosing and treating cancer – and to proliferating learning and connection about the same. In this post we’re going to break down hundreds of thousands of cancer-related posts over the last year by physicians outside the US – specifically in Europe.

According to the MDigitalLife Online Health Ecosystem database, physicians outside the US are even more active in posting about cancer than their peers in the states – 12% more active to be exact (measured on a posts-per-author basis). European physicians also very active across borders – perhaps not a surprise given the common ground of the EU which underpins them, but interesting from a research perspective nonetheless.

We wanted to explore the connectivity of these European populations when discussing cancer-related topics. The map below illustrates cross-border physician-to-physician mentions in those cancer conversations (note that hovering over a country will tell you how many times doctors in that country mentioned doctors in other countries in the course of those conversations (a tip of the hat to Saurav Venkatamaru and Yash Gad, PhD for their work in bringing this data to life).

It’s also instructive to look at the individuals inside this map. While UK physicians as a whole make up a large percentage of this conversation, the most-connected cancer physician in Europe is actually a Frenchman – Paris-based urologist & noted robotic surgeon Morgan Rouprêt. Doctor Rouprêt was mentioned 176 times by colleagues in 27 countries over the past year in the context of cancer conversations. Also impressive in this analysis was Lara Pijuan, a cytopathologist and pulmonary pathologist at Barcelona’s Hospital del Mar. She was mentioned 195 times by peers in 26 countries. There were three other European doctors who were mentioned by colleagues in at least 20 countries; Spanish physicians Maria J. Ribal (192 physician mentions from 25 countries), Laura Guerra Pastrián (123 mentions from 24 countries) and Eduardo Alcaraz Mateos (86 mentions from 23 countries). In all, there were 40 European physicians who were mentioned by colleagues in at least 10 countries.

We’ve managed to plot out ALL of these European physician-to-physician mentions. The static chart below will give you some idea of the breakdown by country, but to really explore the map please click through to this interactive version.

Don’t forget to download the 2017 Social Oncology Project report for all the newest insights into online physicians in the oncology world!

To learn more about how the MDigitalLife Online Health Ecosystem database can reshape the way you interact with doctors, patients, the media & all the important stakeholders of your healthcare company, learn more about us here.